


Death's First Time At The Park

by djthulkdra



Category: The Sandman (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:10:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djthulkdra/pseuds/djthulkdra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death goes to an amusement park and doesn't get on any rides. Dedicated to death-of-the-endless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death's First Time At The Park

Death trailed her fingers along the railings as she entered an amusement park. She had come on recommendation from a mortal who she collected a few days ago. The Endless would have come sooner, had she not had to collect. For such a morbid figure, Death _did_ go out of her way to befriend every single new soul she collected.

The amusement park she was in was called Disneyland, a place dedicated to Walt Disney, another man Death had become acquainted with. He was very kind, so the fact that he had a place built in his honor—especially this well-made—was a very nice sort of full circle. The rides went high, the place absolutely had an aroma of fun, even if Death had no idea how that smelled, she was entirely sure that "an aroma of fun" was the best descriptor. She'd have to invite one of the other Endless sometime, maybe Dream.

Walking in, the first thing Death noticed was—well, it was the stares she got for dressing the way she did, but she was used to that and didn't much care—a little girl, all alone on a bench, and bawling her eyes out. Death made her way over and sat down next to the little girl, causing her to stop crying momentarily.

"C-can y-you help me find my M-mommy and D-daddy?" the little girl asked, wiping her eyes. "I-I lost them."

Death gave the girl a warm smile, calming her even more. Strange thing about the personification of death, she was actually really warm. Many of the dead can attest to that, it's just none ever get the chance to because they're, well, _dead._

"Why don't we just stay here?" the Endless suggested. "Your parents are must be looking all over for you and the entrance will probably be one of the first places they check."

The little girl nodded and scooted closer to Death, taking the personification by surprise for a second. She wasn't used to that. People usually kept their distance.

"So, what do you like to do?" Death asked, trying to find something to past the time.

"I like magic! Are you a magician, lady?"

"Um…yeah, sure. Look, watch this." Death had seen a magic show once before, and so she knew the associated hand gestures and theatrics. A certain deceased father had shown her.

She waved her hands around and used her Endless power to materialize an ankh for the little girl.

This continued on for a while, with Death showing the girl "magic" and the little girl laughing at it in her own adorable way. By the time the Endless was through, the young girl had a veritable jewelry closet to work with.

_Mortals are such fantastic creatures. Especially when they're young. Like this one, she's adorable. It's a really good thing I'm not coming for her, that would put a damper on things._

Death noticed two people, a man and a woman, rush toward her—or more specifically the girl. The woman of the pair, who the Endless assumed was the mother, snatched up the girl and the father looked at Death, herself, his eyes hard, like he was trying to comprehend the situation. He was in his mid-40's, so he probably didn't expect anyone dressed like Death, a dark gothic style was hers, to have such good intentions.

"Y-you, uh, you took care of my daughter?" he asked. Death figured he knew the answer, but was just trying to figure out how to thank her.

The Endless nodded. "That I did. She's a wonderful girl."

"We know," the woman interjected, throwing her arms around Death, sobbing into her shoulder. The Endless, in her infinite empathy, hugged the woman back, assuring her it was okay. "T-thank you, thank you so much. If there's ever anything we can do for you, dear, just—we live not a bit away, I'll give you my number and you can just ring us anytime, um…"

The woman trailed off, looking at Death, like she was supposed to give her a name.

_Damn. Death wouldn't be the best name to tell the people whose daughter you've been hanging around for the past 30 minutes. What do I do, what do I do, what do I say?_

"Jess, you can call me Jess," she finally said. Inwardly, Death sighed, she had really only gone with the first name that popped in her head, which coincidentally slant-rhymed with Death. "It's nice to meet you two."

"It's a blessing to meet you Jess. We're the Smiths, I'm Mary and this is Curtis," she said, pointing at her husband, who just waved for a second and focused on his little girl, who had a multitude of new jewelry.

"Mary and Curtis Smith…" the Endless trailed off for a second. This was perhaps bittersweet. She had given them their daughter back but the problem was that she was due to collect them in a few hours. "It's fine, I only did the right thing. You don't have to thank me."

"We insist."

_You won't be saying that in a few hours._ No one ever does at first. Death stood up, that characteristic smile of hers still plastered on her face, though it hid a hint of sadness. "Well okay, but I have to get going. I've got a, um, a party to go to. Lots and lots of preparing to do."

_Translation: I'm going to collect your soul. I don't really want to spend a lot of time looking at you and your happy family right now._

Death left the amusement park, patting the girl on the head and waving the family goodbye. 

It was never easy to just collect a soul, especially one that had family. Death was used to it and it didn't affect her as much, but she knew how volatile these things were. The little girl would either be traumatized, be traumatized and become a hero, or be traumatized and become a villain. It was the second one, in case you were wondering. Death knew, but it was much more fun to pretend not to.

She strolled past the lifeless carcasses with the bullet wounds to the head, the stench of the dead not yet setting in. As the Endless passed them, the souls followed, bound to their new master's direction.

"So," she said, catching their attention. The two souls were very lost and looked around like sheep. Death pointed them in the direction of their bodies. "You're, um, you're dead. Now, I know what you're thinking—'what's going to happen to my daughter?'"

"Is she going to be okay?" Curtis spoke up, even superseding his wife in his worry. He grabbed the Endless by her shoulders, pleading with his eyes for her to give an answer in the positive. He didn't even notice the personification of Death looked exactly like the girl that had protected their daughter.

Death smiled with him, this was one of her favorite parts of the job, when she got to tell the deceased that their cherished were going to be okay. "Yup. She's going to grow up and become a superhero. And I'm not due to collect her for another…85 years."

"Y-you're Jess, aren't you?" Mary said, her eyes wide with fear. Now that she was sure her daughter was safe, it was her turn to be scared. "W-what are you, really?"

"Death. I'm Death of the Endless, nice to meetcha'. I'm going to take you to the afterlife. You might want to come now before your daughter gets here."

Mary's expression changed slightly, her fear was refocused back to her daughter. "W-what? She's going to come here? But—"

"You're dead. Yes, she's going to become worried and run all the way down here. She'll already have enough to deal with, I don't think she needs ghosts trying to comfort her. I'm really sorry," Death said, placing a consoling hand on the shoulder of Mary and nodding understandingly at Curtis. "We must be going."

"Would this be the last time we'll ever see her?" Curtis asked, his eyes now intently focused on his body.

"You'll see her in 85 years, when she dies. Until then I can give you updates on her life," Death said, smiling as comfortingly as she could. They were surprisingly cooperative so far; most people charged the Endless and begged for her to restore them. But it didn't work that way.

Curtis looked to her, then his wife, and then back to his body. "We'd like that." He placed an arm around his wife's shoulder and then looked to the personification. "We're ready."

Death nodded. He wasn't ready, but he accepted that it was going to come whether he was ready or not. So, she just said, "Then follow me."

Death led them into the afterlife, looking back every few seconds to see if they were still following. She also saw the little girl come onto the scene, and that's when she stopped looking back. It wasn't a lot of fun for her either.

_Well, I can't complain. Mortals are such fascinating creatures and you can't help but get attached. 'That's the problem', Dream always said. 'You get too attached, my sister.' Yes, well, I do but I love them all. And, I just helped create a hero._


End file.
